The money drawer generally made for receiving a separate removable insert may for example be pushed by hand into the cash case against the force of the spring means. For opening this money drawer, a bolt holding the money drawer fast in its moved-in position is moved, for example manually or electromechanically, out of a closed position, so that the money drawer can be slid out of the cash case by the force of the spring means.
Special requirements are imposed on the money drawers of such cash registers, since on the one hand they must operate reliably securely and be easy to service, and on the other hand the prescribed working space of the occupational cooperatives (e.g. cooperative banks requires for ergonomic reasons that the cash registers have very short opening paths).
For a given useful area of the money drawer, short opening paths are achieved on the one hand by comparatively wide money drawers of small depth. Another measure for reducing the opening stroke of the money drawer as compared with conventional money drawers consists in moving the money drawer out to only part of its depth and at the same time opening a covering element which unblocks the part of the money drawer which has not moved out.
A cashbox of the type of the species is already known in which both measures described are put into practice (German Pat. No. 3,014,545). The width of the money drawer is considerably greater than its depth; when the money drawer is moved out, by means of an operative connection between the money drawer and a lid the latter is opened, so that it makes accessible the rear part of the money drawer, which is still located inside the cash case.
The sliding drive for the money drawer consists substantially of racks arranged in the cash case on which pinions roll along which are pivoted on the money drawer, where the pinions are loaded in a rotation direction corresponding to the moving-out direction of the money drawer by coil springs. These kind of coil springs are comparatively expensive components as regards both their manufacture and their assembly, especially when, as in the case of the German Patent mentioned, the pinions must undergo a number of rotations for the whole moving-out path.
In addition to a sliding lid construction, which is very expensive by reason of the support and guide problems it involves, German Pat. No. 3,014,545 also shows a solution with a hinged lid. The drive connection between the money drawer and the lid consists essentially of control levers arranged on the lid which are guided with guide rollers arranged on their free ends in control links formed on the money drawer. The control links are open on one side, so that only the opening motion of the lid is positively controlled, while the closing motion is done only under the weight of the lid itself when the money drawer is closed; in order to lock the lid in its closed position, the control links are each provided with an undercut which secures the guide rollers against lifting out of the control links when the money drawer is fully closed. Link motions in themselves alone are very expensive components which must be fabricated very precisely. With the use of two control links operating parallel according to the German Pat. No. 3,014,545 a very precise mutual adjustment of the two control links and of the control lever is necessary in addition. A further disadvantage of the known solution is seen in the fact that the hinged lid is not positively locked at the same time as the money drawer. If the hinged lid does not reach its closed position by means of its own weight, due for example to bills protruding up over the upper edge of the cashbox, then it remains unclosed even when the cash drawer is locked, since the guide rollers of the lid control lever are not held fast by the undercuts of the control links.
It has also proven that it is advantageous for ergonomic reasons for the cashbox be closable by pressing down the lid and not only by pushing in the money drawer. In the known solution the operative connection between money drawer and lid works in only one working direction, that is, the movement of the lid is controllable by the movement of the cash drawer and not vice versa.